


(Not) a villain

by Lacerta



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: relationship is kind of implied, the line between heroes and villains is not a thick one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 13:16:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8802277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacerta/pseuds/Lacerta
Summary: "You really believe I couldn't be a villain?"

  "Never."





	

**Author's Note:**

> One should never underestimate brain's ability to think of other things to do when you're supposed to be learning for an exam. Not that I'm complaining.  
> Enjoy this bit of me being productive in a different way that I was supposed to be. <3
> 
> PS: Many thanks to Yoru, my beta-reader!

"You really believe I couldn't be a villain?..."  
  
"Never," came the immediate response. "Even if you might think it would have been possible for you to turn into one before... before Iron Man, I just don't see it. You have always had a good heart, Tony, otherwise you wouldn't have become a hero."  
  
Tony wanted many things right now. He wanted to be able to agree. He wanted to believe Steve when he said that, the rumour had it that Captain was a great judge of character, wasn't he?  
  
He wanted to correct Steve, too, to explain everything, to make him understand, to make him _see_. He wanted to come clean and confess all the dreadful things his mind was coming up with whenever he let it wonder. He wanted to tell the truth and strip Steve's faith in him piece by piece, until nothing was left but pure disgust he deserved.  
  
But then again, that would wipe the warmth from Steve's face and he didn't suppose he could ever take it.  
He tried for an uncertain smile back at Captain.  
  
"Yeah, thanks, I guess."

***

Looking at the scorched and bent shield dropped before him, he felt something inside him break.  
  
He heard them saying that they got Steve. That even super serum couldn't help once they burnt Captain America to ashes. He knew that they were hoping to break him and make him compliant. They took all his hope away, they made sure he knew no one was coming for him. And how long could one man fight on his own?  
  
He didn't even try to stifle a snicker.  
  
Oh, yes. He did break. But they didn't even fathom what was under the shattered surface.  
  
He always did best by himself, anyway.

***

Pathetic, really. He didn't even break a sweat.  
  
Being fair, he had to admit that knowing just the right amount of force necessary to break someone's neck in an exoskeleton suit and ability to calculate the missiles explosion area on the fly did come in handy. AIM wannabes didn't stand a chance against the full extent of his genius, and not worrying about casualties definitely made the whole process less troublesome.  
  
He retracted his faceplate with a short voice command and looked around the hall he stood in. It got messy pretty quickly, but he did make his suit red for a reason. It did wonders with hiding the bloodstains.  
  
He smirked. The leader thought he was oh-so-smart, killing himself before Tony got a chance to interrogate him. Seriously, as if he needed to do that. JARVIS was already done with analysing the data from the AIM servers and went on to frying them. Once relieved from the less important tasks, like satellites management or SI systems maintenance, the AI surprised even its maker with his processing capabilities. Huh, who knew? He should've taken a pass on those tedious responsibilities much, much sooner. Just imagine the things he will be capable of now!  
  
Tony let out a short bark of laughter. He will get the sweet, sweet revenge and nothing, nothing was stopping him now.  
  
"...Tony?"  
  
He froze. That was impossible. How...? He took a sharp breath before turning to the main entrance.  
  
Steve stood by the door, shield-less but otherwise fine, looking straight at Tony. This time there was no warm smile to greet the genius when he faced the man. Captain's eyes didn't stray from Tony's face for a single moment but he didn't need even a half of his intellect to know that Steve had already seen everything there was to see.  
  
He gulped. There was no point explaining, no point making excuses. Steve finally knew who Tony really was, it was too late to take it back. And Tony's predictions were as accurate as ever - the disgust was there, just as he had wanted. Just as he deserved.  
  
And, just as he had thought, he couldn't take it.


End file.
